Consumption, Cities and States Comparing Singapore with Asian and Western Cities
Product details
Biographical note
Ann Brooks is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Health and Community, Plymouth University. She was appointed Professor of Sociology and Cultural Studies at the University of Adelaide in 2008 and is part of the Australian Research Council–funded Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.
Lionel Wee is a Professor and Head of the Department of English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore.
<p>‘This is a theoretically sophisticated and always accessible transdisciplinary comparative analysis of Singapore’s successive strategies to become a world-class or global city. The book explores its capacities for institutional self-reflection and strategic learning and the sometimes banal, sometimes surprising tactics adopted to consolidate local loyalties and attract foreign talents and investment.’ —Bob Jessop, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Lancaster University</p>
<p>‘This broad-ranging book, demonstrating the breadth and capacity of the authors, provides new insights into what it means for cities to aspire to global city status. It focuses attention on city-state relations and the reflexive roles of individuals and institutions in the making of global cities. While the work centres on Singapore, interested readers will welcome its comparative analysis of other global city aspirants.’ —Lily Kong, Vice Provost at the National University of Singapore and coeditor of ‘Creative Economies, Creative Cities: Asian-European Perspectives’</p>
‘Consumption, Cities and States’ examines the fascinating intersection of consumption, citizenship and the state in a cross-section of global cities in Asia and the West. It focuses on a number of theoretical and empirical analyses: developing and amplifying the intersection of consumption, citizenship and the state in late modernity in relation to a range of cities; examining the concept of the global city as an ‘aspirational’ category for cities in Asia and the West; and considering case studies which highlight the intersection of consumption and the state. As Ann Brooks and Lionel Wee demonstrate, the interface between citizen status and consumer activity proves a crucial point of analysis in the light of the neoliberal assertion that individuals and institutions perform at their best within a free market economy.
‘Consumption, Cities and States: Comparing Singapore with Asian and Western Cities’ examines the fascinating intersection of consumption, citizenship and the state in a cross-section of global cities in Asia and the West.
Acknowledgements; Introduction; Chapter 1: Consumption, Reflexivity and Citizenship in Global Cities; Chapter 2: Orders of Reflexivity; Chapter 3: Rescaling for Competitiveness; Chapter 4: The Dynamics of State–Society Negotiations; Chapter 5: (De-)Regulating Asian Identities: Comparing Asian Cities and States; Chapter 6: Citizenship, Reflexivity and the State: Investigating ‘Defensive Engagement’ in a City-State; Chapter 7: Governing the Citizen-Consumer: Citizenship, Casinos and ‘Cathedrals of Consumption’; Chapter 8: Regulating Consumption and the ‘Pink Dollar’; Chapter 9: States as ‘Midwives’ to Cities: Cosmopolitanism, Citizenship and Consumption in the Modern State; References; Index
Product details
Biographical note
Ann Brooks is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Health and Community, Plymouth University. She was appointed Professor of Sociology and Cultural Studies at the University of Adelaide in 2008 and is part of the Australian Research Council–funded Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.
Lionel Wee is a Professor and Head of the Department of English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore.